TFP 6: The School of Hard Knocks
by Karra Greenfield
Summary: TF Prime: As the Autobots focus on retrieving the Omega Keys, something else is afoot. Heavy episode references.
1. Chapter 1

Ch 1

_[Location: Autobot Base]Timeline: Alpha Omega_

Aware more of being moved than feeling it, Elita-One mumbled that she was alright to the murmur of voices as she sat down to rest on some nearby storage crates. "I just took a blow to the head while I was fighting the Insecticon," she thought she had said, "just a slight concussion." As things became less fuzzy, she realized that the others were having a conversation around her, but focused on Optimus. Ratchet's arm readout was open, and she caught her own data on it, but apparently her scans were nothing to be worried over.

The others were happily discussing returning to Cybertron and apparently Elita had missed something extremely important but knew if she listened long enough she would glean enough to know what exactly it was. Then as Bulkhead, Arcee, and Bumblebee slowly realized who they'd have to leave behind it seemed to the Autobot-Human that maybe it wasn't all such great news. "I'm sure they'll be happy," she offered the trio.

Smokescreen, who appeared to be avoiding her now that she had cleared the air of what she really was in a more direct manner, was speaking with Optimus so Elita focused in on their conversation. Omega Keys? Is this what she had missed when she blacked out?

As Optimus worked harder on decoding the Iacon database, the others were busy making plans. The outright need to fight harder to make sure that these last four relics ended up in Autobot hands was unspoken and hung heavy in the air. E knew that she was likely not to have any field work to do, but she would do her best to make sure that things stayed in tip top shape on the home front, knowing full well that the base of operations was as important to success of any mission as what happed in the field.

Having taken the time to clean up her head wound, Elita found herself mostly a wall flower in the base now. She sat in her smaller body on the bench seat of her larger left shoulder, munching on some high-carb cookies she kept on hand, while she looked over the Star Saber. The blade was impressive in its capabilities and beautiful in its design. The urge to hold it was extremely powerful, but she really didn't want to risk making anyone mad.

Ratchet, busy with his plasma welder on his latest project for Optimus, seemed giddy and she was glad that her dear friend was in one of his better moods. Prime only paused for a moment to acknowledge what the medic had said to him, but quickly returned to his duty as he realized that his old friend was more speaking to himself than to his commander.

"I feel funny saying this," Arcee began calmly as Elita joined them, "but I'm not sure I want to go back."

"Who knew we'd get so use to our _new_ home?" Bulkhead asked, feeling the same as the small blue Autobot. They focused on Bumblebee as in his own way gave his lament about leaving his best friend Raf behind. "Yeah," the Wrecker agreed, "I don't think I'd ever want to leave Miko."

"We've made friends here," the blue fem gave a smile to Elita, who returned it with both forms, "Family."

"We can always," Ratchet interjected and had to pause to think of the proper word, "_text_ them." Then he promptly went back to work.

E had turned with the others to focus on the medic, but blinked in confusion as her jaw dropped. How could he sound so callous, so uncaring? She knew that the kids meant the world to Ratchet, why was he acting so coldly about them now?

Apparently she wasn't the only one to find the statement bothersome, but Bulk and Bee just shared a look and went back to their own discussion. Elita couldn't really focus on it anymore, but was watching Ratchet work. The idea of being able to return home was probably why he was so different from the bot she had gotten to know. Her friend was running on some sort of auto-pilot that maybe he wasn't really thinking before he spoke. Feeling as if she had nothing really to offer at the moment, Elita-One retreated further into the base. She had things there to keep her busy and out of everyone else's way.

She had spent the following hours in her kitchen. With steadily moving hands she sliced up quite a bit of her fresh vegetables, browned some of the beef sides she had left over from the last time Agent Fowler had brought her food, and was working on a hearty beef stew in the industrial stand alone cooking pot. Satisfied that it was well mixed, Elita-One pulled down the large lid to cover and let her meal simmer before she walked into the hallway to sit on the bench of her bike. A timer set, her e-book in hand, which she had deregistered and opened up a dummy profile for safety reasons, and settled in as she waited.

This was where Ratchet found her. Elita was smiling down at the small rectangle device in her hands and had not looked up at him as the medic made his way closer. There was something about the smells that came out of the kitchen when she was cooking that made him smile. It wasn't the harsh smell that came from whatever passed as food from K.O. Burger, but it seemed like whenever she was working in her little area it was more pleasant to be around. It was also nice to see her smile.

She was so engrossed in what she was reading that when the timer went off she was on auto-pilot. He watched as her hand reached over to shut off the noise making device and walk into the kitchen, still reading her book. Minding her larger body in its vehicle mode, Ratchet crouched down to watch her through the doorway. She was still looking at that silly device in her one hand as she lifted up the lid to the stand alone cooking pot and began to stir its contents with a large paddle spoon with relative ease with her other. She was like this for quite a while, still smiling as she was doing two things at once, and remarkably well Ratchet observed.

It was as she gently tapped the large spoon on the side of the pan, the solid sound thrumming slightly in the quiet, before setting it off to the side and closing the lid that he realized that she still had not noticed him. When she was walking towards him, the medic smiled before he spoke. "You forgot to set your timer."

Elita jumped as she made a muted sound that came out more as high pitched squeal, her arms up and quaking as if the muscles had locked up on them. When she finally calmed, her smile blossomed more at seeing him in the doorway. "How long have you been there?"

"I had arrived just shortly before your timer went off and you walked into the kitchen," he answered as he got back up to his feet to let her out. The human body walked past him, pressing a couple buttons on her little noise making device before she settled on her bike bench again. "What has you so distracted?"

She held up the device a bit, "The e-book Momma got me for my birthday a couple years ago."

"A very thoughtful gesture."

Nodding, Elita smiled lovingly down at the device. "I always loved to read, but wasn't always able to carry the books around with me that I wanted."

"So what is your current choice of reading material?" her red and white friend asked.

"Edgar Allan Poe."

"Anything in particular?" When she shook her head, he only nodded. After a moment of quiet between them he began to quote:

"_Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,  
Though its answer little meaning- little relevancy bore;  
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being  
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door-  
Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,  
With such name as "Nevermore."_"

"That was a beautiful quoting."

At seeing her eyes glowing brighter, her jaw dropped in appreciative awe, Ratchet shrugged it off a bit, looking around the hallway for anything else to focus on for a moment. "I had rested outside of an outdoor theater for a while during my search for energon before the Decepticons had started to renew their attacks. I had actually come to check on your head wound."

As if reminded of it, Elita's right hand brushed the bandage that was along her hairline above her right eye. "Oh, well I guess we better get to it." Calmly she held onto as her larger body transformed into its bi-pedal mode and followed the medic to his work area.

They were at the end of the hallway when the urgent call from Arcee came through the medic's comm-link. The pair ran the rest of the way, Ratchet's feet skidding across the metal floor as he slid sideways at the ground bridge controls. Quickly imputing the data, he turned to focus on the opening ground bridge. Everyone watched tensely for the return of Arcee and Smokescreen, Optimus even pausing in his work to help guard the opening to the base.

When Arcee was the only one to walk through and Elita, both parts merged, rushed to her side, the blue and pink fem looked crushed. The bots cleared the path as the fems made their way over to the medical area. Ratchet was quick to begin treating her, but there are some things that all the tools in the universe cannot fix. It took her a while, still in shock over what had happened, but eventually Arcee began her terrible story. Another Autobot was gone.

Elita, kneeling down next to her friend as she held her hand, looked up at Bulkhead as the Wrecker powered up his weaponry, revenge for their fallen comrade forefront on his processor, and the scout was quick to second the motion. Both halted by Optimus speaking a single word.

As Prime prepared to leave the base, Elita-One gently patted Arcee's hand with her larger ones, her smaller body resting inside its larger shell, "It's going to be alright. You're not alone, Cee."

It was here she stayed, never leaving her friend's side as they waited for Optimus' return. It could have been minutes or hours that passed, she didn't know or care, but when their commander made his request for the ground bridge there was a weight, heavier than they would have admitted, lifted off of their shoulders.

As Optimus was escorted to the medical area by Ratchet, the four others that were waiting were surprised to see the 'dead' walk in behind the Prime. Watching from beside the ground bridge controls, the Autobot-Human hybrid had to smirk. The new kid had a streak of good luck so far. She just hoped it lasted.

As the reality of what was gained and lost set in, the Autobots began to prepare themselves for possibly darker battles. The loss of the Star Saber along with Megatron wielding the Dark Star Saber only made any upcoming confrontations all the more dangerous.

_[Location: Alden Military Base]_

Agent Fowler had finished up one of his latest reports on the Autobots for General Bryce and was packing his brief case to leave for the night when there was an urgent knocking on his office door. "Come in," he said calmly, moving his thumbs over the latches to lock them in place.

A new Private First Class that had been recently stationed at the base rushed through the door and handed Agent Fowler a file folder that was stuffed full of paperwork, the outside stamped 'Classified'. With a sigh Fowler took the folder and dismissed the soldier. The chair squeaked in protest as he sat himself back down behind his desk. The Autobots apparently had their metallic hands in something again.

As he read over the information the military man realized something was off. There were scorch marks that were found at all of the Cybertronian scuffles, but the place had been cleaned up rather well by the time the nearby base had sent it's on hand clean-up specialists. Prime was careful, but even the most careful of his team always left something behind, mostly Decepticon parts.

With a groan, Agent Fowler got up out of his chair, tossed the folder into his brief case before locking it shut again, and headed out of his office. The report had stated that explosives were used, but Wheeljack always needed the 'maids' after he fought. Either Prime had gained another in his ranks and had not yet updated Fowler, or there was something else going on.

**Author's Note: I don't own the show. "Nevermore" is written by Edgar Allan Poe, all rights belong to his estate. **

Yes, I have been doing more voice actor and came across Jeffrey Combs playing Poe. The geek in me took over for a bit. The apparent misspelling of "marveled" is in Poe's original text.


	2. Chapter 2

School of Hard Knocks - Ch 2

_[Location: The Fowler Home] Timeline: Hard Knocks_

It was one of the things that Agent Fowler hated the most: the middle of the night phone calls. Reaching over in the dark, he didn't even bother to turn on the light as his hand landed on the receiver to pull it to his ear. Did the Autobots ever sleep? As the soldier on the other end of the line gave a specific code word, Fowler bolted upright in his bed. "I'm on my way." Dressed, at the base, and in his VTOL in record time, Agent Fowler was screaming into the air before the dark night sky belied the coming dawn.

_[Location: Central Arkansas]_

He barely landed his jet at the Air Force Base in central Arkansas before he was rushed into an awaiting Military Police jeep before it sped down the runway. Agent Fowler was given a brief, but no descriptive, tour of the base as they rushed deeper into the heart of the restricted area. Waiting for him in a large hanger was the reason he was there as the sun began to crest over the lush amount of trees that surrounded the base.

In the middle of the hanger, surrounded by three dozen well-armed men from the Air Force, Army, and Marines, ten M.E.C.H. agents knelt: unmasked, handcuffed, with fingers threaded together, resting behind their heads. Towards the back left of the hanger rested most of their equipment that had survived the onslaught that had brought them to their current predicament. As Fowler accepted a file folder from the Sergeant in charge of the operation, the Autobot liaison frowned as he read over the paperwork inside.

The M.E.C.H. agents were apprehended after reports of fighting had broken out north of their current location. The Air Force had already been working with the Army surveilling the area due to reports of odd shipments being delivered in the area. As they approached that night, several soldiers reported seeing a 'giant white robot'. The 'unknown' had already knocked around the occupants of the warehouse, destroying most of their facility before fleeing into the night as an nondescript land based vehicle which somehow managed to lose its pursuers shortly after fleeing.

Shutting the folder with a deep sigh, Agent Fowler nodded to the Sergeant as he began to issue orders about what to do with the men. Soon they and the surviving equipment were being loaded up into a cargo plane to be shipped westward. General Bryce already had things prepared for when they were able finally apprehend the renegade Special Forces members. One particular in this current group had Fowler flexing his hands into fists; the urge to plant one of his fists firmly into the jaw of this man was growing stronger as he watched the group being led away. It was the same defiant look that Silas had about him when Fowler faced off with the M.E.C.H. leader those many months back when dealing with Nemesis Prime.

Turning to head back to the M.P.'s jeep, Fowler was now thinking on how he should break the news to her, that Elita-One's ex-boyfriend and M.E.C.H. handler had finally been captured.

_[Location: Autobot Base]_

Elita was the one to volunteer to take that night's monitor duty so that the others could rest just in case they had a sudden call into action that Prime might give. As the Autobot leader worked steadily through the night to decode the Iacon Database, she worked nearby to make sure all was quiet from the outside world. As her larger form worked the station, her human one was sitting across the right shoulder bench as it worked away at her laptop, one bare foot tapping the air as it hung off the end of the seat as she listened to the music through the headphones attached to her computer . Elita used her quiet nights to work on reports from the Autobots' side of things for Agent Fowler; and in return he made sure to pack large bars of dark chocolate and a few bottles of chocolate syrup for her in her supplies.

As the saving progress bar slowly made its way across her screen, E grabbed the bottle of syrup she had tucked next to her in the seat, flipped the cap open and tipped her head backwards to squeeze a "healthy" amount of the syrup treat into her mouth. Twisting herself around a bit, she looked over at the Prime. He had yet to take any sort of break since Megatron had forced him to do so the day before, which, truth be told, the only break was the Star Saber.

As the alert began to flash on her laptop, interrupting her music, Elita quickly took another shot of chocolate before opening up the message. "Agent Fowler, you're up early. I just finished up my latest report, which is saving and encrypting as we speak."

"Good," he replied as he glanced down at the screen for a moment and then back to watching where he was flying, "I'm impressed that you've already got the skirmish in Arkansas ready for review."

"Arkansas?" Glancing over at the map on Optimus' station, E quickly took in where the relics were battled for. "No, no one's been in Arkansas since we stopped going to that energon mine M.E.C.H. was harvesting from."

"There were reports of a 'giant white robot' from the soldiers that were sent to investigate," Fowler continued, "Please tell me that Prime has everyone accounted for."

"It sounds like it might be Wheeljack, but what would he be doing there?"

"Whoever it was, it took down the M.E.C.H. agents that were stationed there." Fowler paused to let that sink in a bit before he continued. "Elita, Joel was with them. Apparently he was running the group that was stationed there."

Chewing on her bottom lip, she let her mind whirl a bit on the information. "Makes sense; especially if Silas started wiping out his own crew after his merging." She felt herself cringe as the one question that had come to mind blurted itself out, "Is he…?"

"They were all apprehended alive."

It was relief and anger that washed over her, but time enough for all of that later. "Right now things are crazy here, but we'll trade notes when it's quieted down a bit."

"Sounds like a plan," Fowler stifled a yawn behind his hand, "I best get to the base. An extra cup of coffee has my name written all over it."

"Have a better day, Agent Fowler," Elita smiled before the communication cut off. When she looked up from her screen she saw that her larger form had already walked itself through the base, taken one of the containers of energon rationings, and was walking up to Prime; all this while she was on the 'phone' with Fowler.

Her impulse was to do this for Optimus after her call, but the absent minded thought played itself out without her actively doing so. Elita gently took Prime's closest arm in her hand and injected the energon into his system, Optimus only pausing long enough to let her do this for him. With a nod of gratitude, Prime returned to his diligent work on the database.

The pair heard the others before they saw them; their metallic foot falls echoing in the quiet base. Elita would have to try to get a hold of Wheeljack later on in the day to find out what he has been up to, and why he was going after M.E.C.H. so openly, and apparently cleanly, now.

Elita began to make her way back to the energon storage room when she came across Ratchet. He was exiting out of the door, energon container and injector in hand, when they both stopped short. "Good morning, Elita. How was your night?"

"Pretty uneventful," she replied, both sets of her eyes focusing on the energon, "Taking that to Optimus?" Her larger form held up the same apparatus as both forms smirked.

"It seems that we both had the same idea then," the medic smiled warmly before he turned back into the room he was preparing to exit. "Has Optimus had any progress in his mission?"

"I think he's almost got the next code broken," she replied as they began to walk down the hallway. They both heard Smokescreen before they walked into the main control room of the Autobot base, and they both shook their heads quietly about his boasting. "Duty calls," she said quietly before they joined the others.

"I would like to check out your head wound this morning," Ratchet stated bluntly, "since we failed to do so last night."

Elita nodded with a smile, "Yes, Doctor."

"Autobots," Optimus stated clearly, gaining the attention of the others, "the next set of Iacon coordinates have been decoded." Then he focused on his medic, "Ratchet, ready the ground bridge."

As the older bot did as he was told, Elita watched the others as Optimus finished giving his orders. With both forms she was actually able to take in two different views of her surroundings. What surprised her was how she was not becoming confused or disoriented by the fact. She also knew it was wrong to do so, but Elita couldn't help but snicker at Arcee's little jab at Smokescreen's speeches of 'destiny' before she and Bumblebee transformed and took off into the ground bridge.

As the ground bridge shut down, Ratchet looked at Elita-One with a smirk, "No time better than the present to look at your wound."

"Yeah, yeah," she mumbled, returning the smirk. As they both made their way over to the medic's work area, E had to wince and snicker a bit at the Wrecker's 'pat of reassurance' that nearly sent Smokescreen flat on his face. The way the smaller Autobot recoiled, she knew that it had to hurt.

With her larger form sitting on the huge table, Elita tucked her laptop away into the side compartment before Ratchet started poking and prodding her with the scans. The index finger of his right hand pulled apart, revealing a small pair of pinchers that the medic used to work on the smaller wiring systems when he performed surgery. As he began to gently, at least what he thought was gentle, grip the tape around the bandage, Elita squeaked in pain.

Raising her hands up quickly, she shooed away the tool, "Owowow! Let me before you pull out chunks of hair."

Impatient with is patient, Ratchet had no choice but to watch as she slowly picked at a corner of the tape on her forehead and slowly peel the bandage away. When she held up the bandage for him to take, which he did with the tiny tweezers like tool, the medic frowned as it began to bleed a bit again. Setting the bandage aside in his scanning system, he took over the cleaning of her wound. The energon mixing with her 'human' blood made it a vibrant purple. He only paused a moment as the recollection of where he had seen purple energon before came to the front of his processor. He would have to scan the old bandage when he got a moment to do so; right now he needed to help rebadged her wound.

Across the room, Smokescreen was chatting with Bulkhead when he turned at the little human's cry of pain. He still couldn't believe what he had learned about Elita. It just didn't seem possible at all. "They creep me out," he said quietly to the Wrecker beside him.

Bulkhead, who had also turned to look at Elita as Ratchet was tending to her, smiled warmly. "Who? E and Ratch? Nah, I think they look good together."

Smoke blinked, doing a double take as what his friend had said surprised him, "Eww. No, I mean Elita and her human."

Bulkhead sighed, shaking his head slowly, "You still don't get it."

"I get that Vector Sigma does whatever it wants to," the Elite Guardsman looked back at the 'pair' as Ratchet attempted to repair the human, "but why merge an organic with a Cybertronian?"

Again Bulkhead shook his head before he proceeded to tell Smokescreen Elita's story, once more.

**Author's Note: I don't own the show.**

Anon BW FG: I would love to have a picture of her; I'm toying with some ideas when time permits.

Thanks ya'll for hanging in there with me. I'm trying to weave my own ideas in for what could happen in Season 3 and what I would want to happen in Season 3. I'm just hoping that it's not going to be a major belly flop.


	3. Chapter 3

School of Hard Knocks Ch 3

_[Location: Autobot base] Timeline: Hard Knocks_

At Arcee's call for help, Bulkhead, Ratchet, and Smokescreen rushed through the ground bridge portal to retrieve their injured comrades. Elita had things prepared in the medical area for their almost instant return through the glowing gateway. Bumblebee, who had sustained the worst injuries in the scuffle, was the medic and his assistant's priority. It didn't take them long to stabilize the scout enough for the repair chamber to complete its task. As Ratchet worked the computer system, Elita focused on repairing Arcee until her friend told her to stop. The blue fem would need to have the rest of her repairs completed in the chamber after Bumblebee had been restored.

As Optimus stepped over to check on the progress, those not focused on the repairs focused on him as they began to discuss their current situation with the Keys. Since she wasn't currently included directly in the conversation, Elita was cleaning up the tools she had used as she listened.

"Man it must have been crazy with Knockout going all 'sonic'," Smokescreen moped.

As the rookie began to whine about how he would have succeeded in the mission, E began to clinch her fist around the handle of the arc-welder in her hand. Ratchet prevented the tool from being crushed by putting his hand over hers and whispering in her audio sensor, "Elita, I need that."

Elita opened her hand, smirking a bit bashfully as she handed the tool over to him, "Sorry." But as they heard Smokescreen continue his lament, the medic had to quickly empty her other hand before she threw _that_ tool at the Elite Guard before he moved over to scan Arcee's damage. The only thing that really saved the kid from getting a wretch thrown into his face due to his boasting was Bulkhead stepping into the fray, laying it down hard to the newbie about how things really were outside of the realm of Smoke's ego.

Much like Arcee, Elita went off further into the base. If she didn't get away from Smokescreen, Optimus was going to be short one fighter and it wasn't going to be by Decepticon hands.

_[Location: Alden Military Base]_

Agent Fowler had just taken a huge bite of his sandwich when a knock sounded on his door. With a grunt, he set the practically-whole sandwich down on the wrapper it had come in and quickly finished the bite he had taken before bidding entrance.

Private Daly walked in, quickly passing a set of file folders to Fowler. He had expected some news, but not this quickly. With a quick check through each folder, the Special Agent nodded and thanked the younger man for the delivery. Each folder contained the profile of each man that was under arrest after the M.E.C.H. bust earlier that day. There was also a separate folder with the reports from the US military side of the operation, including a few blurry pictures of the 'giant, white robot' as it moved through the smoke and flames of the destroyed base of operations for the rogue Special Tactics cabal.

With a frown, Fowler shut the folder and tossed it onto the top of the pile. Taking another bite of his sandwich, Fowler turned his chair around as he heard the printer on his desk behind him beginning to warm itself up in preparation to print out. It never ceased to amaze him at how Elita was able to make his computer decode her reports and print it out, but it saved him a bunch of work in the long run. After all, she had it set up where all he had to do was put in a password and his computer did the rest.

When the printer beeped its monotone 'done' signal, he pulled off the stack of papers from the top and settled back in his chair, sandwich in his other hand. Yet another one of those 'mystical' artifacts from the Iacon database had been found; this one called the Star Saber. Great - something else to make him look crazy with his superiors.

Setting the last bit of his sandwich down, Fowler grabbed an empty folder from a desk drawer, labeled it according to what name she gave the report, and set it on top of the pile. Elita writing the reports about the Autobots was saving him quite a bit of work, but the only thing that made it believable was having seen it himself before she took over.

With a sigh, Fowler gathered up the trash from his lunch, packed up the stack of folders into his briefcase, and headed out the door. It was getting cooler outside as fall set in further and he was going to enjoy some of that cooler temperature as he read over the reports while he had a chance. It was one of the rare enjoyable days in the area and he wasn't sure when he'd get another opportunity like this again.

_[Location: Autobot base]_

She was supposed to be resting for her monitor shift that night, but Elita couldn't rest. There was an uneasy energy in the air, especially over the Key that Megatron had in his possession, which was making it difficult for everyone in the base to relax. Prime still worked on decoding the last entry while Bulkhead and Smokescreen were out in the field. Bee and Cee were still in recovery, under Ratchet's care.

Growing up, Elita had learned how to sew on her grandmother's treadle sewing machine, the device foot powered and cared for the family as the family cared for it in the three generations that they were together. Now E was using it to alter some of her clothing. She had a few shirts to spare in her experiment, cutting and sewing the backs so that she had less fabric between her human body and her Cybertronian one when they were merged. She had plenty of over shirts to wear out in public when the occasions called for it, if she got out in public again.

Pulling the fabric away from the machine with a snip of the thread, Elita pulled the shirt right side out and gave it a shake as she looked over her work. Not perfect, but the 'U' shape cut from the back looked as if it might work out well without having sacrificed most of the shirt. Apparently her idea needed a bit more work since with this design she's going to either be showing her bra, or giving up support.

As she looked the problem over, her laptop began to beep at her urgently; a call from Agent Fowler, no doubt. Without even looking E pressed the spacebar on her laptop, which was resting on the extended table top of her treadle sewing machine. "Yes, Agent Fowler?"

"I just received reports of several explosions in Central Washington State," the Autobot liaison stated promptly, "What in the name of Uncle Sam's beard is going on over there?"

"Bulkhead and Smokescreen are out getting a relic," Elita replied, giving the shirt a light toss onto the tabletop.

"Explosives sounds like Wheeljack to me."

"Maybe," she conceded, "but multiples isn't his style."

"Dreadwing," Fowler frowned.

"That would be my guess."

"There were also early reports of fires, but one last explosion seems to have extinguished the worst of it." Fowler continued, "Firefighters have been called out to douse the embers before the rest of the forest goes up."

"A concussion blast," she agreed. "I'll make sure that I have this report done as soon as I get all of my information."

"Thank you, Elita."

As the communication shut down, Elita gathered up her laptop and stood up. Her larger form reacted as she stood, transforming into its robotic mode after she put the laptop in the right hand storage compartment. She merged with it, letting the pain of separation ease away before she walked out of the room.

E joined the others in the command center as Smokescreen peeled out, the room oddly quiet for a moment before Ratchet said one thing that answered her unspoken question. "Next time Optimus advises you to stop, perhaps you should listen." Arcee apparently had given the 'Elite Guardsman' a bit too hard of a lecture and Smoke didn't take it too well.

"I'll bring him back," Bulkhead offered as he began to head towards the exit, only to be stopped by Optimus.

"Smokescreen is young, Bulkhead," their leader began, "and has much to learn, but right now he needs to clear his thoughts," then Optimus turned back towards his station, "and I need to finish decoding final Iacon entry."

With a thoughtful frown, Elita calmly walked over to Bulkhead as the Wrecker shook his head as he walked back over to Arcee. The loss of another relic was heavy around them, but as long as they kept the one in their possession there was still hope. Bulkhead easily shared what had happened during their mission, at least what had happened directly to him. Thanks to this prompt reporting, Elita had the report for Agent Fowler before Optimus finished decoding the last entry.

They all gathered around, the mood lightened by Prime's own relief of the weight being lifted off of his shoulders, "The final entry has been decoded."

"Has it?" Ratchet inquired the same question that was bouncing through everyone else's processors as they all looked at the screen in confusion.

Noticing the serious look and tone to the others, Prime turned back to his station, frowning at the screen himself. "Perhaps it's a layer of secondary encryption."

"That would make sense," Elita-One said quietly as they all gathered closer, "Something this important, ya know?" If the others heard her, they never responded as they all moved closer to look at the screen for themselves. The data began to fill in bits and bytes of an image, slowly and painfully.

"Maybe it's a picture of the relic?" Bulkhead offered hesitantly.

"Of what possible use would that be to us without knowing its location?" Ratchet countered.

"I trust Alpha Trion had his reasons."

Optimus ended any further speculation with that one statement. It didn't take the computer system long to finish its project, the image on the screen a surprise to all those present in the room.

"Smokescreen?" the Wrecker asked in surprise as he was the first one to snap out of their state of shock over the discovery.

"Is this that hot shot's idea of a joke?" Arcee didn't look at all pleased with this latest revelation. Bumblebee replied in his usual manner, expressing his doubt that Smokescreen could have pulled something like this off. Elita frowned a bit, nodding to herself as she slowly began to piece things together in her head.

"Maybe he knows where the key is," Bulkhead interjected hopefully.

"And never bothered to mention it?" Cee asked, turning to face the larger bot.

"A more likely possibility," Ratchet began, "is that Smokescreen himself somehow _is_ the key without knowing it."

"Or has it and doesn't know," Elita offered.

"Whatever the case he could be in grave danger," Prime then focused on gaining the attention of the rookie on their team. When that failed, Optimus began to give the orders on the retrieval of their newest member.

Ratchet worked at his station, Elita running over to the ground bridge controls to input the data he was giving her. The faster they were able to locate Smokescreen, the faster they would be able to get another key out of play and away from Megatron's grasp.

"Optimus," the medic called urgently, "I'm detecting Decepticons in the area."

"Open the ground bridge Elita," Prime ordered, "Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Arcee, transform and roll out."

The ground bridge burst to life in its brilliant display of colors, Prime and his two subordinates rushing through it, weapons at the ready. Ratchet rushed to his medical bay to prepare for any injured while Elita waited tensely at the ground bridge controls for their call to return home.

**Author's Note: I don't own the show.**


	4. Chapter 4

School of Hard Knocks – Ch 4

_[Location: Autobot base] Timeframe: Inside Job_

After the return of the others, Elita and Ratchet worked for what was left of the night on the computers in the attempt to find their missing comrade. Naturally the Decepticon warship was still cloaked, hidden from any frequency scan that the Autobots ran in their searches, which placed a heavy weight on them all. She didn't say anything, but the fact that the Decepticons got so close to the base, close enough to grab Smokescreen before the Autobots could even get there, bothered her. This was the second time that the enemy openly went after a target in the Jasper area. Were they just getting lucky or were the Autobots and the kids in danger?

As the others discussed the last Iacon entry, the image of Smokescreen, Elita was focused on the scanners but smiled when Ratchet verbalized her hypothesis that the newest Autobot was the container for the Omega key. The idea now just made sense as they spoke, that Alpha Trion had in desperation chosen Smokescreen for this task. E didn't care if they had heard her the first time or that this was all fresh, she was just glad that the idea didn't sound farfetched. As they made plans to rescue their missing comrade, Elita continued her duty at the workstation.

Ratchet eventually took over her work, making the fem take a break despite her protests. A quick trip to the kitchen for a pot of coffee and a large handful of cookies and she was back in main room, listening as the others still made plans. As the scanning station began to give off its alert, everyone instantly tensed up.

"Smokescreen's signal," Ratchet informed them with a smile, "It's back online."

"The kid escaped the warship!" Bulkhead exclaimed.

As Smokescreen's voice came through the communication station, Elita too was smiling. Having been in the ship herself she knew it was no small feat to escape it. She rushed over to the medical area to prepare it in case Smokescreen had sustained serious injuries as the Autobot medic began to work the ground bridge controls.

"Strange," Ratchet said, which made Elita stop and look over as well.

"What's the problem?" Arcee asked, setting her hands on her hips.

"Smokescreen's telemetry coordinates doesn't make sense," he stated, the others hearing the confusion in his voice. "I can't lock onto his position."

She let her worry take over, walking over to stand beside Optimus as they all watched the screen. The medic was right; the data wasn't steady which meant something was seriously wrong.

It took him only a few seconds to figure out the issue. "I've isolated the problem," Ratchet began, "Smokescreen is in free fall."

"That's one way off of the ship," Elita-One mumbled, which gained her a little side glance with a raised optic ridge from Prime. She knew that her human form would be blushing, but all she could offer was a sheepish smile and shrug, "I'd do too it if it was me."

As Ratchet attempted to open a ground bridge to intercept Smokescreen's trajectory the tension grew thicker when his signal suddenly veered to the side on the screen; apparently knocked off course and away from the ground bridge vortex. It appeared that the Decepticons were not letting go of their captor as easily as the Autobots were hoping for. Unfortunately they were running out of time as his signal came closer and closer to the ground. When his signal suddenly vanished at ground level Elita gasped, holding a hand over her mouth as she felt the shock rush through her. They might not have gotten along, but he didn't deserve to die like that.

Relief rushed through all of them when Smokescreen's voice whispered over the comm-link that he still needed Ratchet to send him a ground bridge. No one was questioning how he survived, not just yet, as the ground bridge flared to life and Smokescreen running through it a few seconds later.

Not wanting to miss out in telling his most awesome adventure to date Smokescreen, with two Omega Keys in his hands, quickly began to tell the others about his quality time with the Decepticons. Everything from the Key being pulled free from inside of him, the Cortical Psychic Patch, leaving Knock Out embedded in the wall, to finally yanking the Key right from Megatron's own hand and leaping off of the back of the Nemisis to escape. "Didn't I tell ya? Destiny! Alpha Trion knew _I'd_ keep it safe."

Elita, who was standing between Bumblebee and Ratchet, slumped her shoulders. The kid had done great in his little solo adventure, but bringing up the whole 'destiny' bit kind of ruined a bit of positive feelings she was getting for the Elite Guardsman. She shook it off and looked over at Bumblebee as he brought up an important issue; Smokescreen only retrieved two of the missing Keys.

"It was the only Key in Megatron's vault," Smokescreen explained.

Prime spoke as he gently picked up the Keys that had rested beside Smokescreen, "Then three Keys are accounted for."

"Then the fourth is still somewhere on the Con's warship," Bulkhead stated darkly. It was not going to be easy to get it if it was still there.

"Unless," Arcee offered, "Megatron never had it to begin with."

As Ratchet's workstation began to beep, drawing everyone's attention over to it. "A high frequency signal," the medic stated, "with an embedded message."

Bulkhead walked closer, to look at the station himself, "Starscream."

Elita looked at the picture on the screen, rolling her optics a bit with a smirk. Of course, if they didn't have the Key, and Megatron didn't either, then it was only one option left. They all waited as Ratchet read the message.

"I have obtained something of interest to you that seems to be of no practical use to me," it began.

"It's gotta be the Omega Key," the Wrecker said, knowing that it was most likely the very one that was lost during his and Smokescreen's earlier mission.

"He's the one that blind-sided me," Smoke stated, also realizing the truth.

"What else could Scream be referring to?" Arcee asked bluntly.

"Ehp, ehp! There's more," Ratchet quieted them down and gained their attention, before continuing, "Bring medical kit."

Elita quickly covered her mouth with her hand as she ended up snorting to keep from laughing. It was exactly how Bulkhead and Ratchet told her about previous contacts from Starscream, that he only made bargains with the Autobots when he needed medical attention.

Ratchet gave her a little playful glare before he finished reading the message for the others, "I only ask for the surgical replacement of my T-cog in return."

The Wrecker scoffed, "Like we're going to give Scream back his wings."

Ratchet rounded on Bulkhead, reminding him of what was the cost of such 'mercy'. "Without the missing Key Cybertron will remain devoid of life."

"Broken record, I know," Arcee's tone was resigned to the facts, "it could be a trick."

"It is possible that Starscream does not yet realize the significance of what he holds," Prime attempted to reassure his crew.

"And we do know that he has been incapable of flight for some time," Ratchet added.

With all the facts on the table, Prime took a moment to weigh it all before making a decision. "The stakes are too great for us not to consider Starscreams' proposal. However, we will take precautions."

As Ratchet rushed over to prepare the tools he would need to perform the surgery, Elita walked over to her commanding officer. "Optimus," she began quietly as he focused down at her, "I know you don't want me to be out of the base, but I want to go with you. I've been studying Cybertronian anatomy with Ratchet and I believe that I can help him with the surgery to make it go faster."

Prime thought on her words, looking over at the medic as he joined them. "What do you think, Ratchet?"

The red and white bot looked at her, more specifically at her hands. "She would be useful in completing the job in a timelier manner."

"You may come with us, Elita," Prime said before they walked over to the main part of the room. "Arcee, open the ground bridge." The blue fem nodded, imputing the coordinates and pulling the lever down. The ground bridge burst to life, casting the Autobots in its green glow.

Prime and Bulkhead had their weaponry out, scanning the area as they exited through the others side. The forest was dark, lit only by their ground bridge's light, thick with trees, and what few animals were around had gone silent with their arrival. Spotting Starscream as he rested on the ground and propped up against a rock, Optimus ordered the 'Con to show them the Omega Key. Prime's call for Starscream to show him the Iacon artifact gained them no movement from the Decepticon, who looked more like a ragdoll in the position he was in.

Bulkhead, with his weaponry aimed right for the flyer's head, spoke next, "Give it up, Scream." When the 'Con still didn't respond, the Wrecker nudged him with his gun, making Starscream slide over to the side. Prime moved to the side so his medic could investigate.

As Ratchet knelt down to look Starscream over, Elita glanced off to the right. She caught something out of the corner of her optic sensor and looked out into the dark to see if she could see it again or decide if it was just her nerves getting to her. When nothing seemed amiss she knelt down as well to help Ratchet with his task.

The medic's findings sent a surge of urgency through them all. Prime looked back at the ground bridge, ordering Arcee to close it. Whatever trick Starscream had used before to obtain the Omega Key he had in his possession he was quite possibly using now. Ratchet and Elita readied their weaponry as all four turned to the closing ground bridge, aiming in its direction.

There was a slight distortion that came out of the bridge and right up to them, Elita then realized that was what she had caught out of the corner of her eye. When Prime suddenly turned and aimed, she saw Starscream just appear right where the Autobot leader was aiming.

The Decepticon looked as if he could leak, "The red energon wore off, didn't it?"

"He has the Omega Keys!" Ratchet stated in horror.

As he panicked, Starscream aimed his left arm, launching the missile that was attached to it, sending the three Autobots behind Optimus diving for cover. Using the attack to his advantage, he began to run through the woods, carrying the Keys as he fumbled with his ground bridge remote control. The Autobots were quick to give chase, but the sly Decepticon was quick to enter his own ground bridge portal and shut it before the others could follow.

Elita could offer no words to help comfort Optimus and only looked at the others. But she knew as well as they did that Prime was right. The fate of Cybertron now rested in Starscream's thieving hands.

**Author's Note:** **I do not own the show.**

Yes, rehashing (or as my hubby says "Bleaching") the episode. There just wasn't much that I could add differently, just needed to progress the story.


	5. Chapter 5

School of Hard Knocks - Ch 5

_[Location: Autobot Base]_

The four returning Autobots were quiet as they passed through the ground bridge, Optimus walking ahead of them while Bulkhead took up the rear, leaving Elita-One and Ratchet in the middle. The scene they walked in on was almost complete chaos. Arcee was still at the ground bridge controls as Smokescreen and Bumblebee rushed to shut off the water.

Upon seeing the water raining down on all of the equipment Elita cried out as she ran into the room. She knew that the water would damage the computer systems if it continued, that was if they weren't damaged to begin with. There were rubber seals around the compartment doors but she had no idea how old they were and if they would still work. Ratchet ran into the heart of the base to find the emergency water shut off and cranked it closed, ceasing the downpour.

Optimus walked up to Arcee as shut down the ground bridge, "Arcee, status report."

"We got hit, Optimus," she began, "I don't know how but an explosion shook the base and set off the water systems. Bee went to check on the Keys after I closed the ground bridge," the blue fem closed her eyes as she sighed, tilting her head away. "They're gone."

"I know," Prime told her gently, "Starscream had used a dead clone and red energon to gain entry into our base to steal the Omega Keys. We were all fooled."

That news weighed heavily on Smokescreen and Bumblebee as they focused on their leader. All the hope that they had had was practically gone; as shattered now as the Star Saber was. The room was silent, save Elita's mumblings as she inspected the computer systems and Ratchet's heavy footfalls as he rejoined the others. They had to wait for Starscream's next move, whatever it might be.

Optimus was quick to order a cleanup. The Autobot leader and Bumblebee worked on repairing the damage Starscream had done to the hallway and surrounding rooms; meanwhile Arcee, Bulkhead and Smokescreen focused on cleaning up the water, leaving Elita and Ratchet to clean out the computer stations. A few parts had to be replaced since the shower had gotten in and fried a good handful of the electrical components, but fortunately they were easily replaceable. Elita separated herself so her smaller form could get in and clean up the mess on the inside of the computer housing cabinets, sending her larger form over to the others to help with the clean up.

Smokescreen looked up at the Cybertronian form as it grabbed its custom made mop and began to move it over the floor. The Elite Guardsman frowned a bit as he shook his head. He still couldn't for the life of him figure out exactly _why_ Vector Sigma did what it did to her, or even why it saw fit to give her two bodies. He was shocked out of his thoughts when _it_ looked right at him, her eyes glowing brightly as if the smaller body was nestled inside of it.

"Are you just going to stand there staring at me or are you going to help clean?" Elita asked bluntly.

Smokescreen quickly went back to wringing out the blanket he was using to gather up water with into the basin next to him. Arcee, who had also noticed the change in Elita's form, smirked as she pushed the giant squeegee device Elita made across the floor of the ground bridge chamber, using it to push more water into a drainage pipe that the humans had originally installed in the facility.

It took them several hours, but the Autobot base was back to somewhat normal, if not cleaner from the experience. The main computer stations were back up and running before the others had finished clearing away all the water. In a rush to get themselves back in a more cheerful mood, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Arcee headed into town to pick the kids up from school.

While they were gone Elita and Ratchet took the time to inspect the rest of the base. Fortunately most of the rooms were empty or contained metallic crates that protected their contents. Some of the others were not so fortunate. Most of the non-military installed appliances in the kitchen didn't survive their showers and the hydroponic garden got an extra watering that day, but the new TV system that the kids had was pretty much shot.

As she took inventory of what in her room had survived or was salvageable, Ratchet helped her by moving the furniture to the top of the base to let the dessert heat help dry it out. Fabric materials were hung over ropes that ran across the back of the room and along the sides of the hallway. He found her laying out pictures from her photo albums so they could dry, all of the flat surfaces covered in the family images dating back to two centuries before. He was puzzled a bit as he looked down at a particular picture; the sepia image was of two men standing side by side, wearing two different military uniforms. He would have to ask her about it later.

Looking over at her, in her human form as she tossed a sopping wet album in a pile with several others, he vaguely noted her larger form taking apart her computer desk. "How many were you able to save?"

"Most of them I hope," she answered quietly. "My computer system's gone, but I think the hard drives might be salvageable so it might not be a total loss. We might want to construct waterproof faraday cages for all the non-original computers in the base to help prevent this in the future when we get some spare time."

"Good, good," the medic mumbled as he looked her room over. "Your family took a lot of photographs."

"We tried, I guess," she said, looking around with him. "Some date back to before the Civil War."

"Civil War?"

Nodding, Elita gently opened another soaking wet cardboard box that she had packed things in with a sigh. "A war in the mid-1800s, fought when the United States split apart for a time over philosophical and political differences. Families, fathers and sons, even brothers like in my family, fought on opposing sides."

"I see, sounds not too dissimilar from our own war," he replied as he picked up her sewing machine. "Where do you wish for me to put this?"

"Up top with the others to dry I guess." Elita was busy digging through the box before her. "I'll have to oil it later." With a nod, the medic left her to her work. The others would be back soon and he would make sure that Elita wasn't disturbed by their return.

_[Location: M.E.C.H. base RND 14]_

It was still early in the evening, the autumn air cool as the sky rolled with clouds that were sparking lightning from within their masses, threatening to downpour at any given moment on the isolated military base. Nestled amongst the trees, the little research and development laboratory was a well guarded facility with its tall chain-link fence topped with triple- coiled razor wire and patrolled by men in standard battle dress uniforms, their guns at the ready for the slightest hint of approaching danger. The one road that led to and from the facility had several guards stationed along it as well.

In the dark of the trees a pair of brightly glowing blue eyes narrowed at the facility as their owner watched the men. He had tracked down a source of energon here and was not surprised to find yet more humans dealing with the materials. He would handle this group of buildings and the men that were there the same way he handled all the others. As he saw his opening he felt a smirk cross his face before he moved.

_[Location: Autobot base] Timeframe: Regeneration_

The kids were slightly amused by the lines of drying fabric that hung along rope tied to the walls of the Autobots' quarters area. Vent fans were running, which was pulling air through the halls to help dry not only the cloth but help pull the excessive moisture out of the base to help protect the structure as well. Miko carried with her a box, holding it with both arms as they made their way to the kitchen. Despite the damage and the extra work due to the attack by Starscream, Elita still managed to make sure that the kids had something to eat among the possibly hundreds of books that were drying there.

"Looks like the library wasn't spared," Jack observed.

"Also looks like someone can use a coffee break!" Miko exclaimed as she set the box down and began to dig out the new coffee pot they had picked up on their way there, since Bulkhead had told them about the painful death Elita's coffee pot had suffered. When the coffee had finished the kids gathered what they could to take to Elita's room. They found her checking over her sewing machine, the pictures still drying around her.

"Hiya E!" Miko greeted their friend with all of her usual energy, which made the Autobot-Human hybrid look over at the kids as they entered. Wiping her hands on a work towel, Elita gave them her best smile as she met them halfway and helped Rafael gather up some pictures off of one of her many tables so the kids could set down the food.

"Nice collection you've got there," Jack complemented as he handed her the cup of hot coffee.

Her sour mood softened at the sight of the drink as she took the mug into her hands, "You didn't have to get a new one."

"You kidding?" Miko spun around to face her with a rice ball in hand, "We knew how much you loved and _needed _your coffee."

"And besides," Rafael added as he gently placed the pictures he had in his hands in a neat pile, "team mates help each other out."

"I honestly don't think I'd be able to do this without you kids around," E said through her robotic form as her human one was drinking down the cup, "But why are you here? I'd figured you would be catching up with the bots since there's been so much going on."

"We were," Jack replied, moving out of the way so Raf could get to the snacks, "but a call came in from Dreadwing so they all went to handle that."

Both of Elita's forms looked at the humans. "Why on Earth would Dreadwing be calling us?"

"No idea," Miko said as she grabbed a couple more of the rice balls before flopping down on the bench part of Elita's bike form, since she transformed so the kids would have a place to sit, "I betcha it's got something to do with the Omega Keys they were chattin' about."

"Who knows?" Elita mumbled a bit as she began to gather up the pictures from around her room. They dried wonderfully with surprisingly little damage, but with no photo albums to keep them in she resorted to empty ammo cases that had been left in the base. The kids helped her gather them up, taking the opportunity to ask about what images had caught their eye.

After that task was done, Elita took the most recent chance to show Rafael the Vault. The young man was impressed with her system as she showed him how to unlock and access the device. Her explanation as to why she was giving him access made him blush. It was as he began to look through the files on the system that he paused and looked up at her. "You were Daemon Hunter."

"Who?" Miko asked, up to this point confused by all the computer jargon the pair had been using.

Elita had to smirk, "I haven't heard that name in a long time, but yes, I was Daemon Hunter."

Jack, who was almost as puzzled as Miko was, looked back and forth between the two of them, "You two met before?"

"Online," Rafael explained, "Daemon Hunter was a huge deal in the hacker circles."

"Every hacker, good or bad, has a unique coding signature to everything that they do," Elita began, "I had began to gather up viruses that I found and even helped track down the worst offenders. A daemon is a computer program that runs as a background process, making most computer functions invisible and automatic. This makes it the perfect delivery device for a computer virus, and since I tracked them down," she shrugged. "I actually came across Raf changing around pictures on conspiracy websites. He wasn't doing any harm so I let him be." She looked back down at Rafael as he began to shut down the Vault, "I have a copy of all of the viruses on a flash drives that I keep separate, but if you need to utilize something from the Vault feel free. I've already Okayed it with Optimus."

Ratchet knocking on Elita-One's door surprised everyone inside, but he only came to tell the kids that he had to bridge them back to their homes, Optimus' orders. As they left, they grabbed what was left of the rice balls to eat when they got home and followed Ratchet. Elita merged with her Cybertronian body and followed them. Bidding the kids farewell, Ratchet and Elita opened the portal into Jack's garage, letting the kids go their separate ways from there.

As soon as that ground bridge portal closed, the Autobot medic opened a new one for Optimus and the others to return through, and he wasn't the only one that was surprised by the prize that Optimus carried in his own hands. Elita had heard about the Forge of Solace Prime from Ratchet, but in all of his describing of what it could do she never pictured it being so beautiful in its design. As it rested in Prime's hands it glowed with an energy that she could feel, its inner workings moving smoothly with that energy, and much like when she was near the Star Saber her hands itched to touch it.

The topic turned back to their current situation, and Elita stayed out of it the best she could. It was saddening that Prime felt that he could not replicate the Omega Keys, but it turned out right depressing at the thought that Megatron would be the one to revive Cybertron and in turn win the war. She became confused as they discussed the Omega Lock, not because Optimus had just mentioned it but because she knew what it was and apparently the others did not. Frowning, she watched Optimus walk over to the ground bridge and lower himself to the under platform. Apparently she had Vector Sigma to thank for that additional bit of information in her processor. Her only question was: why?

**Author's Note: I don't own the show.**


	6. Chapter 6

School of Hard Knocks – Ch 6

_[Location: Autobot Base] Timeframe: Regeneration_

To save herself from the temptation of watching Optimus Prime use the Forge on the ground bridge Elita-One forced herself to focus on packing away the rest of her things. Thanks to the dry dessert air the fabric she had hanging about dried as quickly as the pictures had. Her books, unfortunately, had not shared that luxury. Since her bathtub was still detached from the water system in the base, she utilized it as storage for the ammo boxes containing both the photographs and the hard drives of her computers. She folded and placed all the fabric on top of all of that until she was able to find a better solution. It had taken her most of the night, but she found a bit of satisfaction at getting most of the mess returned to some sort of order.

She began to wonder what the others were up to, especially since no one had checked on her the whole time. In her whole form, she quietly walked into the main part of the base to find the others just standing around talking. Of course, they were waiting for Prime's orders so they wouldn't have wandered too far away. Not seeing the Autobot leader yet, Elita just waited on the outskirts of their little powwow.

Ratchet was focused on the ground bridge controls, marveling over what the mystic tool had just allowed them to accomplish. Arcee, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Smokescreen, too, were impressed over the upgrade to the system. Eyeing the area herself, Elita nodded her approval. A way for the Autobots to access Cybertron since Megatron had moved his space bridge. As the power flickered around them, the main scanning station began to beep urgently.

"Our sensors are detecting a massive energon burst occurring outside of Earth's atmosphere," the medic informed them before turning to face the others, "a surge of that kind could only mean one thing: activation of another space bridge."

"Megatron has discovered that the Omega Lock is on Cybertron," Optimus said as he entered the room.

"It appears that we have lost our advantage." The tone that Ratchet had used ached Elita to the core, he sounded resigned to the fact that what little advantage that Dreadwing and the Forge of Solus Prime had gifted them with had vanished.

"But with Megatron unaware that we possess the means of interstellar travel," Prime spoke confidently and with a joyful tone to his voice that the others could feel, "the element of surprise remains in our favor."

As the Autobot leader began to issue his orders to the others, Elita couldn't help but feel a bit of hope that Prime would take her along. He did say that they needed to utilize every resource that they had and wasn't she a sort of resource? When the others headed down the storage hallway to retrieve the relics and weapons they had gathered, Prime turned his gaze to her.

"Elita-One, may I have a word with you?" he requested.

His tone became serious again, making Elita look at Ratchet first. The medic only nodded with a slight smile that she should, so Elita followed Prime down the hallway. She knew that Optimus had kept the Star Saber in a more secure location, even though no one else was able to lift it, and she was rather surprised that he walked her right into that room. It rested on the table, the bright overhead light reflecting off of what was left of the bade and its handle. Next to the table rested the Forge. She did her best to ignore the butterflies in her stomach as she watched Prime take the Forge in hand.

"What are your orders for me, sir?" she asked meekly.

"You are to remain here with Ratchet," he stated simply as he placed some spare steel girders and hearty energon crystals on the table by the blade.

She did her best to hide the disappointment in her voice, "I understand."

"Come here, Elita," he ordered. As she stepped up to the table, Prime began to bring the Forge down on the materials there as his other hand held the handle of the Star Saber. "There is always a chance that this mission will not go as we wish it to. If the worst is to happen to us, if we do not return, then it is up to you to lead both the Autobots and the humans against the Decepticons."

She just blinked up at the much taller Autobot, "I am but a soldier, Prime. I follow orders, not give them; nor do I believe that I am qualified to lead."

"I have no doubt that Megatron would press harder in his attempt to conquer this world if he succeeds on Cybertron," Prime continued to form the blade with precision as he spoke. "While you feel that you are unable to unite Autobots and humans in the fight, know that you are not alone."

"Shouldn't you be asking Ratchet to do this?"

Prime raised an eye ridge at her as he paused in his work. Elita and Jack both asked him practically the same question. Sliding the Forge off of the table to bring it down again, he pressed forward with his task as he was running out of time. "While Ratchet is qualified in many things, he lacks certain, 'people skills', which you possess. I believe that you would be more successful in uniting both forces against the Decepticon threat."

Elita watched silently as the final few swings of the Forge hit the table and Prime pulled the ever-impressive Star Saber away from the table. As she followed the Autobot leader she thought on what he had told her.

The rest of the Autobots were stunned to see the return of the Star Saber, a bright flicker of hope over the mission skittering over their frames as they watched Prime walk closer with the weapon in hand.

"Megatron must be stopped, no matter the cost," Prime reminded them gravely. Securing the Star Saber to his back, Optimus Prime ran towards the space bridge and leapt into it, transforming as he did; the others followed his lead.

When the space bridge winked closed Elita and Ratchet stood there for the longest time watching the now dark space. The air was heavy around them, the weight of such an important mission pressing down on them. An even heavier weight that Elita carried now was Prime's orders to her.

"Come back," she whispered to her friends.

Hours passed slowly as they waited. Ratchet had filled most of that time telling her about how Cybertron use to be, the iridescent colors that reflected in the sunlight, the peace that was there before the turmoil Megatron began. All Elita recalled from the planet was how broken it had become, her memory filled with bits and pieces of her sojourn of the planet while the virus followed its programming. In just how much hope he had in his voice over its restoration, she knew that Ratchet was looking forward in his home being restored. When he quieted down and began to pace, she had to keep her giggles to herself as she sat on the stack of crates nearby as she watched him. It reminded her of many an expectant father Elita had seen in the waiting room of the maternity ward she would visit when her mother made her leave her side to take a break.

The three tone alert of an incoming communication sent Ratchet scrambling to the controls, eager for any news. "Optimus?"

"Uh, no, Ratchet. It's Jack," came through the speakers, making the medic lean heavily on the console, "Is something wrong 'cause school's been out for almost an hour and no one showed to pick us up."

"That is because the entire team is rather," Ratchet held his head to keep his tempter in check as he thought of the proper word, "indisposed at the moment. I suggest you obtain an alternate mode of transport."

Elita was just watching him as Miko's voice came through, apparently adding her two cents into the conversation and aggravation to Ratchet's sour mood. Again he was being callous towards the children, she noticed it had happened the night before when he had sent them home. Why?

"Just go home!" he ordered them, "I'll be in touch later." To avoid any further argument he quickly shut off the communication's link.

Elita's jaw dropped. She knew he was stressed, but this was uncalled for. She was on her feet and walking over towards him before he even pulled away from the console. "How could you?"

Not really in the mood for a rebuttal, Ratchet squared his shoulders as he turned to face her. "They need to be at their own homes, not here. There's too much at stake for them to be here."

"Ratchet, we're their guardians," she waved her right hand out to the side, "All of us."

"They'll make too much noise and we need to concentrate," he said as he marched past her to begin his pacing again.

"To do what? Listen for when Optimus calls for a bridge home?" When he didn't stop she put both hands on her hips, "I can work the controls so you can go get them."

"Absolutely not," the medic said with a bit of an indignant tone. "They need to focus on their lives, not ours."

"Have you forgotten everything, Ratchet?" she asked, stepping in front of him as he began to pace again. "The cons have gotten so close to the base in their last few attacks. Add to that the fact that Rafael just finished moving because Silas and Megatron targeted _his_ home."

"All the more reason they should have stayed out of this in the first place," he countered, "It's bad enough that the human military tries to control us through Agent Fowler, we shouldn't have to be babysitting a bunch of earth children."

"Apparently you've forgotten how much those earth children have done for you and the others."

Ratchet scoffed, "They've assisted, yes, but once Cybertron's energy has been restored we'll be focused on rebuilding our own home world. We'll finally be free of this planet and the need for the company of its inhabitants."

Elita tried to form words, not able to believe what she just heard him say. "Do what?"

Ratchet waved to the bunker around them, "Human technology is so inadequate compared to Cybertronian, I've been lucky to make what I have with what the _humans_ allowed us to have. I'm surprised that the human race has any of the accomplishments it has with such primitive thinking and technology."

"Need I remind you that Doc Greene, a _human_ man with very _human_ technology, was able to break through the dimensional barrier?"

With a scoff, the medic rolled his eyes and shook his head, "And it was with my _Cybertronian_ designed ground bridge that we were able to get you back. You seemed quite content being there; maybe I should have just left you there."

Elita ground her fists together at her sides, "Maybe you should have. At least the Burns Family accepted me, _all of me_, for what I really was." Firming her jaw and squaring her own shoulders she took a deep breath. "Fine. When Cybertron is restored I want you off of my planet."

"What?" Ratchet had to run a couple of steps as she turned and began to walk towards the exit. "You'd be coming with us, Elita."

She half turned, shaking a bit with her anger. "You just told me you wished to be free of this planet's inhabitants, therefore when the Autobots return to Cybertron I will stay here. The Decepticons will continue to dig for energon and _we humans_ will have to defend ourselves from their conquest. Right now I have to make sure that the kids make it home safely."

With that she ejected her human form, its feet touching the ground as her larger form transformed. As Ratchet watched, Elita took off from the base in a squeal of tires and loud rev of her engine. As the quiet began to echo around him, he realized he let one of the best things that ever happened to him in his long life just drive away. With a disgruntled sigh, he went back to his scanning station. He had to be ready whenever Optimus called. Later on, after the others returned, he would do his best to mend his friendship.

**Author's Note: I don't own the show.**


	7. Chapter 7

School of Hard Knocks – Ch 7

_[Location: Highway between Autobot base and Jasper, Nevada] Timeframe: End of Regeneration/ Beginning of Darkest Hour_

She had paused about a mile or so outside of the base to put her helmet on. Being upset was no reason for Elita to toss aside safety; plus she had left her hair down so it was to prevent any more tangles in the metallic red strands. What Ratchet had said and done the last couple days, mostly in regards to the kids, played through her head over and over as the miles passed her by. How could he? After everything those kids have done for the Autobots, how could Ratchet be so cold to them now?

It made her question how he really felt about her. By how he was speaking to her he had included her in retreating to Cybertron when the others got back. Did he sometimes forget that she use to be human? That she still had a very human-thinking brain? Elita could never forget what made her what she was today, how could Ratchet? On top of all of that was his comment about leaving her with the Rescue Bots and their human partners. All of the anger she had been holding back the past few days started to boil up again, making her eyes sting with tears, but she would not shed them. Not now. Out of everything that happened since she joined the team, Elita felt betrayed by possibly the one she trusted the most.

Her human head hung down as she struggled with the lump in her throat. She was betrayed, but honestly it wasn't by Ratchet. Elita knew it was her own doing and that she brought her own downfall. She made the emotional investment in Ratchet because he was there; practically trapped in the base like she was, so it was him that she let herself get too comfortable with. She opened her heart up again, so willingly, only for it to be crushed because her expectations were too much. There was a betrayal, but it didn't come from the medic.

Clearing her throat, she lifted her head up to look at the road ahead. The day had been bright, hot for a fall day, but dark storm clouds were moving in fast. She had her laptop, viral drives, a change of clothing, and money all stored in her shoulder compartments. The idea of staying away from the base and with the kids for a day or so really sounded pleasant. Yes, it was breaking orders, but if the others didn't get back from Cybertron soon then someone had to watch over the kids. Even if the Decepticons completely left the planet alone after Cybertron's restoration, which she honestly doubted, she would still protect the kids. They were dear to her heart, loving them like the siblings she never had and could not even think about leaving them high and dry.

The scream from of a pair of jets diving from overhead brought her out of her thoughts, making Elita's helmeted head jerk up and around. Decepticon fliers were heading straight for her, coming close enough that if Elita did not duck down they would have taken off her head. In her rear view mirrors she saw two Vehicon cars zooming up on her fast.

"Scrap! They figured it out," she mumbled to herself as she began to dodge laser shot from behind as the Vehicon fliers banked to head right for her again. The two cars zoomed up to flank her on either side, trying to crush her.

Tugging up on her handle bars, Elita pulled the guns free from their holsters and aimed to either side of her. Letting off a volley of shots right into their engine blocks, she had to smile with a bit of satisfaction as they veered off of the road as the air units screamed over her again. Swinging herself around and using the momentum of the bike to throw herself into her bench seat, Elita 'oofed' as her stomach hit the back of the bike hard, folding her over the top of the bench a bit, but she recovered fast enough to begin firing on the incoming air units as they returned the favor.

The first jet took shots right to its underbelly as it flew over again, Elita having to move herself upright onto her knees to keep her target in view, but the second one used her distraction to its advantage and hit her square in the torso. Pain hit her first as her body folded around the front of the Decepticon jet, the visor of her helmet shattering from the impact, before she flew backwards, her larger form swerving as she took the blow, but as her human component started to fall to the ground she transformed and scooped it up close to her larger form, both tumbling wildly along the road and the sand and rocks that it ran through.

The Decepticon transformed as it landed, aiming its weaponry where the Autobot now stumbled to its feet, cradling a limp human body against itself with its left arm, covering the left side of its face with her right hand. "Hand over the human," it ordered.

Elita felt like her head was in pieces as she looked, focusing through the haze that the pain had her in at the Vehicon in front of her as she stumbled to get herself upright. When it made the order again, this time powering up its weapon to add to the threat, she growled at him. Slowly she shuffled her way over to the 'Con, his other hand held out in expectation. When she was close enough she pulled her right hand away from her uninjured face to look the Vehicon right in his visor. "Get fragged."

The Vehicon fell backwards, a smoking hole where his head once was as Elita's right hand transformed back from sniper rifle mode. Shivering, she gently placed her human body back inside, letting herself seal in place. Looking back towards the base she slowly began to stumble her way back towards it. She had to warn the others.

Elita didn't made it far when the clouds split in the sky as a bolt of power struck the earth behind her, sending the injured Autobot flying forward and rolling across the ground, knocking her out.

_[Location: Twenty-five miles east of Jasper, Nevada]_

As the humans that both worked and purchased from a road side truck stop began to stare in awe at the massive blue energy bolt that poured from the sky, two unlikely vehicles adjusted their mirrors to watch. Side by side, a rusted white 1940 Ford Pick-up truck and a white 2012 Porche 911 GT3 started up their engines, backed out of their out their parking spots, and headed down the highway at full speed, heading straight for the energy's ground zero.

**Author's Note: I do not own the show.**


	8. Chapter 8

School of Hard Knocks – Ch 8

_[Location: Autobot base] Timeframe: Darkest Hour_

After the call from June Darby, Ratchet decided that he would just have the comm-link set to connect to Optimus, thus saving him from having anymore interruptions from unwanted sources. Privately the medic frowned at June's words, that she had not been able to get a hold of Jack even though he should have possibly been home by now. Maybe he was hanging out with Miko and Raf and couldn't hear his phone over the young lady's music. That must be it.

He was rather upset when his station began to frizzle out on him. "Earth technology," he mumbled, trying to adjust for whatever was causing the interference. "Optimus, do you read? An unknown energy spike in the Earth's atmosphere is crashing all of my systems." When there was no response, the medic began to panic slightly. "Please tell me this is in relation to the activation of the Omega Lock."

As he continued to fight with the computer Ratchet grumbled about it being the wrong time for Elita to have pitched a hissy-fit and left the base. He really needed her knowledge of Earth designed computer systems right at that moment. His hands paused for a moment as he realized that Rafael would have been useful at that moment, too. He should have gone to get the kids from school when they had called. Shaking his head clear of the thought, he focused back on the system before him as he attempted to get it back under control.

Slowly his system came back online, but Ratchet wasn't sure if he really had anything to do with it. The unknown energy spike was no longer detected by the scanners and he had come to the quick conclusion that its departure was the reason his work area was functional again. "Optimus, can you read?"

"Ratchet," Prime's tired voice came through the computer systems speakers, "please open a space bridge."

Running over to the ground/space bridge controls, Ratchet quickly entered the coordinates from Prime's communication and opened the iridescent portal. As his teammates began to walk out of the space bridge portal, he couldn't believe his eyes so he squinted to see inside the containers Arcee, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead carried. "The children?" In his confusion he couldn't help the sinking feeling in the pit of his pump. "What happened?" _Where's Elita?_ When the others remained quiet he began to grow agitated. "Somebody say something," he demanded.

"Optimus," Bulkhead took a deep breath, "destroyed the Omega Lock."

Staring at his long time friend, Ratchet couldn't believe what he had just heard. "What? You did-"

"What was necessary," Prime finished his medic's sentence, even though those weren't the words Ratchet was going to say. "There was no time for another prolonged battle, not with Earth in Imminent danger."

The weight of what he was being told pressed the old bot down, his shoulders slumping forward. "So you destroyed the device in any universe capable of restoring our home?" Ratchet said weakly as he felt the world move out from under him, having to catch himself as he stumbled with his optics wide in disbelief. "Optimus, we needed that."

"You weren't there, Doc," Smokescreen stepped forward in defense of his leader and the hard choice Optimus had to make, "and it's not your place to second guess a battle field decision."

"It most certainly is!" the medic focused his wrath directly at the Elite Guardsman. He recalled how Cybertron was before Megatron began tearing it apart with his lies, how peaceful it use to be before its own Civil War, that long horror show that decimated their planet. "There had to be another way."

"It wasn't that simple, Ratchet," Jack tried to explain to the irate medic.

"Megatron was using the Omega Lock to attack the Earth," Raf added.

"Optimus saved our planet!" Miko stomped her foot, upset that Ratchet seemed to be quite selfish at the news.

"What about _our_ planet?" he countered, the medic's anger growing by every word he was hearing, "All of our struggles and energon spilled and countless _sacrifices_, for nothing?!"

"Right decision or wrong, what's done is done," Arcee stated bluntly, "But we have another problem here on _this_ world. The cons just changed the rules when they put Jack, Miko, and Raf into play."

The communication station gave its three tone alert of an incoming call, halting the conversation. "Prime!" Agent Fowler's angry voice came blaring through the speakers. He had been trying to get a hold of the Autobots for a long time and had become quite upset at their lack of response, or the fact that he could not even make a connection. "The Pentagon is preparing to go Def-Con 1. I need to know what we're dealing with!"

"To what do you refer, Agent Fowler?" the Autobot leader asked.

"Maybe you should step outside and see for yourselves," the government liaison replied as he approached the Autobot base.

"Ratchet, watch the children." Prime's tone indicated that he would not accept 'no' for an answer from his oldest friend as he and the others moved over to the freight elevator.

As the others ascended to the outside of the base Ratchet turned towards the kids, noticing the looks that they were giving him, particularly Miko's annoyed jaw slant with her arms cross.

"You ditched us, Ratch," she said, "not cool."

He really didn't care about how they thought of him now, there was only one question that the kids needed to answer. "Is Elita alright?"

Confusion crossed their faces as they looked at one another and then looked around. Elita wasn't in the room. Jack focused back up at the Autobot medic, "Where _is _Elita?"

For the second time in a few short minutes, Ratchet felt the ground give out from under him and had to brace himself on the platform the kids were standing on. "She left after you had called to go get you from school."

Miko's jaw dropped as she looked up at Jack, Rafael's eyes going wide as he, too, focused up at the young man. Looking at his friends Jack shook his head as he looked back at Ratchet. "We never saw her."

That one statement made the worst things filter through the medic's processor, the most panic causing was that she was now offline. He closed his optics tightly as he tried to reign in his emotions.

_[Location: Highway between Autobot base and Jasper, Nevada]_

Elita groaned as she came to, pushing herself up onto her hands and knees before she came to rest on her knees. Her head still throbbed, her face wet and stinging. Reaching up with her left hand she drew it across her metallic face and looked at it. It was clean meaning that her smaller body sustained the trauma. With a groan she pulled herself up to her feet and looked around her. To the east, between her and Jasper, was a huge metal tower.

"What in the world?" she said to no one in particular as she had to lean back to even begin to get a gauge on how tall the structure really was. Its sharp design clued her in the most, that this was Cybertronian in origin and that it was most likely a Decepticon structure. The beating of a single helicopter's blade drew her attention to another part of the sky. Recognizing it as Agent Fowler's flight she transformed and began the drive back to the base.

She came within a half mile of the base when a darker cloud covered her. Stopping and transforming at the base of one of the rock pillars, Elita looked up in shock. It was the Nemesis and it was heading straight for the base. As it made it slow approach to the Autobot base, launching Decepticon drones and Insecticons, she knew that there was no way she would be able to reach the base in time. With a glance to see how high the rock pillar was beside her Elita leapt up and began the slow and painful climb to the top.

Once nestled between a boulder and a rock wall, Elita moved down to lie on her stomach and transformed her right hand into its weaponry. Posed and aiming with her sniper rifle, Elita began to shoot the forces attacking her home. It was slow going, but she managed to help clear away at least a few of the fliers, being careful not to hit Agent Fowler's helicopter as he joined in the fight. She had to smile as the _Jackhammer_ flew past her scope to take out the Insecticons she was aiming for.

_[Location: Inside the Autobot base]_

Ratchet felt numb but followed Optimus' orders, imputing the lines of coordinates for everyone's departure. As they prepared to leave, Raf looked up at Bumblebee urgently trying to get his attention.

"We can't leave the Vault," he exclaimed to his guardian. Bumblebee beeped, motioning for his human to stay put as he ran back into Elita's room. The scout had recalled the filing cabinet when she had brought it into the base, her warning that it was very dangerous and they needed to stay away from it if at all possible. Grabbing the unit in hand, Bumblebee rushed back to the main room and transformed, opening his door for Rafael to get in, the Vault secured in his trunk.

The ground bridge lit up, the scout not wasting any time in getting is ward to safety. After he had passed through Ratchet accessed the next coordinates for Miko and Bulkhead to depart from. The next through were Jack and Arcee, followed closely by Smokescreen, whom saluted his commanding officer before departing.

"What about you?" Ratchet asked as he turned to his friend.

"I will ensure that the Decepticons cannot follow," Prime replied.

Ratchet was taken aback, knowing exactly what Optimus had planned to do. He walked towards the ground bridge, unable to turn back one last time to look at the younger bot that he had watched grow into the strong Prime he was today. "I never imagined it would end like this," the medic told him before he walked through the ground bridge.

"Neither did I, old friend." Prime turned from watching his team's departures to face the bridge controls. This was the only way he knew he could protect them, to give them the chance to survive. As he slowly approached the controls, Optimus Prime pulled the Star Saber from his back.

_[Location: Outside the Autobot Base]_

Elita stared up in horror as the Nemesis hovered over the Autobot base. Once it was in position large doors split open along the bottom as the Decepticons aimed a very familiar looking weapon down at her home. Megatron had utilized Project: Damocles into his own twisted desires, even making it look like a sword with its design. In a panic she opened her communicator to the base. "Elita to base! Evacuate! I repeat, evacuate!"

Prime's solemn voice was the only one to reply to her. "The others have already departed."

"Get out of there, Optimus," she pleaded.

"I cannot," he told her, "It is your job to lead the Autobots and the humans to victory against Megatron, Elita-One."

Elita's optics widened in horror as she watched the weapon fired upon the Autobot base. Her anguished scream drowned out by the destructive wave that flew through the area.

_End Season 2. To be continued._

**Author's Note: I do not own the show.**

Goodness so much from the show made up these last few chapters, I was starting to worry that I wasn't really going to add much that's original to it at all. It's very frustrating. I'll admit when I saw what happened to the base I looked at my husband and told him, "Great. Just when I had Elita get all of her stuff from her old life back they had to go and destroy the base."

The poor girl just can't keep anything nice, can she? Naturally I have my own idea on how Season 3 is going to go so we'll be departing from most of the show now, adding elements as I see fit from it.

Thanks for reading. I always appreciate that you've taken your time to hopefully enjoy my stories.


End file.
